I have a feeling they didn't get as much built prior to the event than they initially thought they would. But once Stratum V2 is implemented, template construction would be decentralized. That coupled with the non-custodial rewards (sans dust) this will be the most decentralized pool.
Discussion
The rewards are not noncustodial, the pool still tracks them and decides when and how much to pay. The only difference is the pool pays out faster/more often than many other pools. However, pools doing lightning payouts are even faster!
Also, it’s important to note that many miners can only handle coinbase transactions of a certain size, so there’s a very low limit on the amount they can pay out in coinbase transactions, much higher than dust.
